Pediatrics Research Roundup, New Chief Health Equity Officer – Episode 171

Dr. Kemper is the Division Chief of Primary Care Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Professor of Pediatrics at the Ohio State University College of Medicine.  Dr. Kemper serves as the Chair of the Evidence Review Workgroup for the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children and is the Deputy Editor of Pediatrics. 

Joseph L. Wright, MD, MPH, FAAP, is the newly appointed Chief Health Equity Officer and Senior Vice President for Equity Initiatives of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He most recently served as inaugural Chief Health Equity Officer of the University of Maryland Medical System and prior to that was tenured Professor and Chair of Pediatrics at the Howard University College of Medicine.  He spent more than two decades in leadership at Children's National Hospital in Washington, DC, where he provided strategic direction for the organization’s advocacy mission, public policy positions, and community partnership initiatives while also serving 17 years as the inaugural State Pediatric Medical Director within the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems. Dr. Wright maintains appointments as adjunct professor of emergency medicine and health policy at George Washington University and teaches as professor of health policy and management at the University of Maryland School of Public Health.  

Dr. Wright has chaired the AAP’s Committee on Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Task Force on Addressing Bias and Discrimination, Board of Director’s Committee on Equity, and is lead author of several Academy policy statements including the Role of Pediatricians in Youth Violence Prevention, Ensuring the Health of Children in Disasters, and Eliminating Race-Based Medicine. He has been recognized for long-standing leadership as recipient of three AAP career achievement awards for humanitarianism and distinguished contributions to emergency medicine and injury prevention as well as the Academy’s inaugural Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Excellence Award.